When Nurul Hasan Sohan walked in to bat in Chattogram on Saturday, Bangladesh needed 31 off 27 with six wickets in hand -- a routine chase by any measure. Seven balls later, the mood had shifted. What looked like a stroll in the second T20I against Ireland became an uneasy shuffle as the requirement tightened to 22 off 14.
Had Mohammad Saifuddin not struck a vital 17 off seven balls, Bangladesh might have slipped to an embarrassing defeat from a position of control and conceded the series with a match left to play.
Sohan's five off seven continued a worrying pattern -- in the recent West Indies series at home, he managed five off 10 and one off five. His hesitant technique repeatedly turns harmless deliveries into moments of tension, spreading unease through the dressing room.
Sohan was only recalled because Jaker Ali Anik had been struggling. Despite persistent failures, the management had backed Jaker, but outside his 20 off 16 in the opening match, his record remains bleak: six single-figure scores in his previous nine innings, and when he did reach double figures, he burned too many balls -- 17 off 18, 10 off 11.
For a No. 6 or 7, that sort of output is a liability.
With Jaker misfiring, Sohan returned. With Sohan faltering, the team reverted to Jaker. The cycle feels endless. In the middle of it, Shamim Hossain Patwary -- earlier dropped after low scores -- became a flashpoint when Litton Das publicly questioned his omission. Chief selector Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu defended the call, only for Shamim to be recalled for the final match. The left-hander, however, never had the platform to show much.
In truth, the failures of Jaker and Sohan reopened the door for Shamim.
By logic, Mahidul Islam Ankon -- selected specifically to be tested -- should now get his chance. Yet he appears destined to watch the series from the sidelines, another example of the disconnect between selector plans and management preferences. Even if he debuts in the final game, how much can one outing reveal, especially with the T20 World Cup looming?
Ankon himself has not scored heavily in recent T20 competitions, but selectors still felt he was worth assessing. Their reasoning never truly aligned with the team's approach. With multiple selection issues spilling into public debate, the chief selector has gone quiet, leaving decisions firmly in management hands.
Those decisions orbit one unresolved dilemma: who is the least risky option? Bangladesh's middle and lower-middle order have slumped for over a year. Even when runs have come, they have lacked impact, and self-preserving batting has often worsened situations.
Bangladesh hoped the Ireland series would offer clarity ahead of the World Cup. It has not. The middle-order puzzle remains unsolved, and the discomfort lingers. The upcoming Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) may throw up temporary solutions, but the gulf between BPL and the international circuit makes snap judgements perilous.
The Tigers now look set to enter another World Cup with familiar uncertainties in key positions -- another turn in the same cycle of muddled planning.
